Chandler: New acts, Amarillo musicians shine in Get Out! interviews

And some weeks, I’m jumping all around, trying to land on something that will work.

See if you can guess what kind of week this is as I dip into my notebook to find some hidden jewels in the interviews I’ve done over the last few weeks.

‘By the skin of our teeth’

Eugene, Ore., band The Koozies makes its Amarillo debut Sunday at The 806, 2812 S.W. Sixth Ave., in the midst of its first major tour.

“We’ve gone from Eugene up to Seattle and down to San Francisco, but we’ve never hit the road and gone across country,” lead singer Jake Pruzynski said. “We’ll be living in the van by the skin of our teeth.

“We’ll be out three weeks, and we haven’t prepared for it enough. We’ve tried to save up enough money to ensure that come what may, we’ll live, but we haven’t made that money yet,” Pruzynski said. “We hope to rely on the kindness of strangers a lot.”

‘We love what we’re doing’

Also making its Amarillo debut Sunday is The Deltaz, a pair of brothers who’ll play at Leftwood’s, 2511 S.W. Sixth Ave.

And unlike The Koozies, these two have been hitting the road across the country for about two years.

And they still haven’t killed each other.

“I know some people ... that are in bands with siblings, and I know people who have trouble with that,” lead singer Ted Siegel said. “But we’ve always maintained a good relationship.

“We have a strong conviction in what we’re doing. We believe in what we’re doing and in our music, and that keeps us going.

“We love what we’re doing. We love traveling and taking our music to the rest of the country, you know?”

‘Everybody just came together’

That conviction is a quality Amarillo musicians share, as well.

Take the 14 musicians volunteering their time to perform the entirety of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on Friday and Saturday as a fundraiser for Texas Music for Life.

Organizer Eric Balderas said he didn’t think he’d even come close to getting a full band for it.

“I went to everybody and told them what I wanted to do,” he said. “I expected for some people to say, ‘I don’t know,’ ‘I’m not sure,’ but everybody was like, ‘Yeah, put me down for it.’

“I was really pleased and happy that everybody just came together and was onboard.”

The idea for the event at Leftwood’s was born in February when Balderas performed three songs from “Dark Side” with his old band, O3, at a gig.

“I got a really great response from it,” Balderas said. “So from then on, I was thinking about it.”

‘How lucky that I’m doing this?’

And finally, I had a long chat with Amarillo native Susan Gibson last week about her upcoming shows here, though as usual, our talk went all over the place.

Look for a full feature next week ahead of her return to Golden Light Cantina, but think of this as a way to whet your appetite for her performance Thursday as part of Music in the Gardens at Amarillo Botanical Gardens, 1400 Streit Drive.

Though she’s perhaps best known for her writing (a hit like “Wide Open Spaces” will do that), Gibson said she’s been struggling with that skill of late.

“I’ve been doing a lot of really conscious thinking about writing,” she said.

“It’s me figuring out what i’m doing, and I’ve been doing it for 20 years, and professionally for 15.

“I’m this far down the road and reevaluating all this stuff,” she said. “That’s really weird and cool. How lucky that I’m doing this?”